Raze, Part 2: Earthfall
by Kuraun14
Summary: In the second installment of the Raze saga, Turner and friends, as well as the whole Raze army, are up against a deadly new enemy, and hope is fleeting. Rated T for graphic violence. Check out my other story, Knight of Gotham: Laughing has its Downsides (rated T for violence, drug content, and some disturbing elements)!
1. Chapter 1

RAZE, PART 2: EARTHFALL

CHAPTER 1: THE UNDEAD

You couldn't imagine the kind of horror that filled our waking minds for a long time after finding the aliens' newest weapon: a zombie virus. All men present in the run-down facility were scared, to say the least. We found no dead bodies on site, and there were blood stains on the ship that shouldn't have been there. That meant that we had no idea just how many of not only aliens but our own guys we would have to gun down. All of us had our ways of coping with the discovery. Al paced around relentlessly while blasting Journey through his headphones. Others still just stayed lying on their beds, staring at the ceiling, almost as if they'd been marked for death. I simply let my thoughts run free, contemplating our seemingly hopeless situation.

Of course, seeing as we were still facing an enemy, watch duty and patrol duty was still assigned. My watch position was at the west side of the central rotunda, where we were. And so, I took up my position, rifle poised, with sweat continually rolling down my face in anticipation. Everyone on watch, including me, fidgeted constantly, as if they wanted to run and hide instead of facing the monstrosities that at one time might have been our friends. It was worse during patrol. Every distant bang or small thump caused us to freeze and train our guns on random spots on the wall, expecting an undead soldier to burst through.

Nothing was the same as before. Even Al made no effort to lift our spirits. Fortunately, Max had called the facility back in L.A. to get reinforcements. There weren't any available from L.A., so he called the guys in Salt Lake City. They had some to spare, though they were tied down in a siege themselves. The good thing was that we didn't have any casualties at that point, so some reinforcements was enough for us. The reinforcements would arrive about a day later, which gave us some assurance. Meanwhile, we would have to lay low and kill any undead that we encountered. After they arrived, all we'd have to do was move out and destroy all undead in the city. It was likely the zombies would stay in the city, as there was really no one else to stir them up.

It was a challenge. On one day, I was patrolling with a couple of other guys when a pack of about five zombies, all aliens, rushed us. I tore up the face of one zombie with my rifle, and another of the guys performed an overhead strike with his knife, splitting the zombie's head. One zombie managed to get close enough that we couldn't shoot it, and the third guy used his gun like a baseball bat, tearing off the zombie's jaw, after which he mercilessly pounded its head in. He looked in disgust at the butt of his gun, now covered in brain matter. The final two zombies were no problem. We popped a couple of rounds into their heads, and we were done with it.

We went to Max about what had happened. He nodded and said, "I guess they know we're not coming to them. They're stepping up." Walking away, he said, "These most certainly are _not _the zombies from Hollywood." Al walked up and asked, and I told him what happened. "Well, I'm just glad you're in one piece, buddy," said Al. "Me, too," I said. Al patted my shoulder, readied his rifle, and reported for his watch duty.

Many a time we had to kill some random passing horde of zombies, of which there seemed to be no end. We had three casualties since I first faced off with the undead. I didn't know any of the guys, but they didn't respond to us via intercom, and there weren't any bodies to be found. What we _did _find was a bloody piece of armor and one zombie with a smoking hole in its midsection. That meant two possibilities: either the zombies ate flesh, or if you died at their hands, you were infected. One of the biggest blows to my psyche, however, occurred a few hours after this discovery.

Johann, Al, Kyle, me, and some other guy were patrolling around eight o' clock at night. We were admittedly confident. In fact, we were _too _confident. We didn't count on the zombies' capability to, though with great limits, adapt to their situation. We had stopped at the entrance and were about to quit our shift. Johann was farthest from the entrance, and as I looked towards him, my eyes drifted towards a shadowy spot just shy of his Achilles. There were two dull eyes staring at it. I screamed, "JOHANN!" But it had already lunged. It bit his heel, tearing out a chunk. Johann fell, writhing, while the zombie prepared to go for the neck. I tore apart the zombie's head with rifle rounds. It fell next to Johann, gurgling through what was left of its mouth. Seething, I lowered my rifle and walked towards Johann.

He quickly dragged himself away, saying, "No…Turner, I'm infected…just have someone kill me." "No, NO!" I yelled in despair, "No, I can't kill you! I can't!" Johann looked at me for a few seconds, then pulled out his T2, saying, "Then at least…turn around…walk away, and don't look back." He put to the gun to his head, and I said, "No…please don't." "I have to," said Johann through gritted teeth, "Now TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY." I gulped and saluted him. He returned the salute, and, with tears in my eyes, I did as Johann said. I turned. I walked through the entrance. I heard a shot ring out in the dead air. I didn't look back.

I was given leave for the rest of the day, as were Al and Kyle. When a few hours had passed, sitting on my bed, Max came up and said, "Johann is buried. You can see him if you'd like." I gulped, choked up a little bit, and said, "Okay." I walked outside to see a large pile of rocks with an assault rifle sticking out of the middle. Al, Kyle and I sat in front. As soon as Hishi heard, he joined us. Upon seeing the grave, he said, "At least he died honorably." I laughed bitterly and said, "What kind of honor is to be found in this?" "Well," said Hishi, "he didn't want you to have to kill or be killed, especially by him. It was brave of him." "I guess it was," I said.

I stayed at the grave for a few hours, at one point not even caring if I was killed. Kyle eventually came out, saying, "Don't blame yourself." "I'm not," I said, "It's just…I didn't even know him for a year. I was just starting to like him. If it had gone another way, we could've been best friends." "Hey," said Kyle, "I don't think he'd want you to think that way. You _were_ bestfriends. Don't treat his memory this way." "Kyle, at this point, I'm wondering how I'll treat all of your memories. How many more of us are going to get picked off? I mean, the odds we're against…" "I _know _what we're against," said Kyle, "but you can't just lie down and die." "Why not?" I said, "Why shouldn't I just give up? Everything's been downhill."

Kyle didn't respond for a few seconds. Eventually, he said, "Look, you're right. Nothing has gone our way, and it's still getting worse. But you know what? I will NOT surrender. If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down swinging. But if you want to sit here and get torn apart by zombies, go ahead. The people who still have some shred of hope will be just inside." Kyle stormed off. I still sat there, staring at the pile of rocks which concealed a deceased hero. Eventually, a zombie gingerly crawled towards me, never breaking its gaze. "Do it," I said, "We won't make it anyway." The zombie lunged towards me. Suddenly, the zombies head exploded. I turned around to see Al, his sniper rifle smoking, up in a parapet.

I walked inside after a few minutes, immediately coming across Al. He promptly punched me in the face. I fell down, nose bleeding, and Al looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Don't ever do that again, or consider our friendship terminated." He extended his hand towards me. I took it, and he pulled me up. Al and I split off in different directions towards our assigned barracks, and Kyle fell in step next to me. "So," I said, "did you tell Al that I was out there?" Deadpan, Kyle said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." We stopped and stared at each other for a long time, eventually cracking up. Kyle put his hand on my shoulder and said, "But seriously, though, don't give up. Al, me, Hishi…we all need you here." "Thanks," I said.

A few minutes later, the guys from Salt Lake City arrived, and we were in business. Max assigned them barracks, and they all headed off in different directions. I went back to mine, lying down and taking out the photo of Natalie I always kept. I said, "Well, I lost a friend today. It almost feels like losing you again…but I saw it happen. I saw it happen. And I couldn't stop it. What if I lose everybody? I couldn't protect you. So I'll try…no, I _will _protect everybody else." I kissed the photo and put it back in my gauntlet. One of the Salt Lake City guys had walked in as I was talking, and he said, "Who were you talking to?" "Just my girlfriend," I replied, "She's, uh, dead, so…" "Oh," he said, "I'm sorry." "It's fine," I said. Suddenly laughing, I continued, "In fact, if she saw me crying over a photo of her, she'd probably shoot me with my own gun!"

The guy laughed and said, "Sounds like you had a good woman." "Oh, I had a great woman," I said, "She was tough yet loving, beautiful as the sun, and without her…without her, I wouldn't be here today." "Yeah," said the guy, "I had someone like that. Real feisty. She was hell-bent on marrying me." "So what happened?" I said. "Leukemia," he said, "We couldn't afford treatment." "That's terrible," I said. "Oh, no," he said, "not with a spirit like hers. She was brave, braver than most _men _I've met." "What was her name?" I said. "Her name was Sylvia," he said, "Her name was Sylvia Silverblood." "That's a strange name," I said. "Didn't make her any less awesome," he said. We both laughed, and he continued, "I'm here because of her. I want to try to be as strong as she was." I nodded, and I decided that I would do the same. "My name's Gerald," he said, extending his hand. I shook it, saying, "Turner." "Well," he said, "I have to report to Max. See you later." I waved good bye to my new friend and laughed again.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER II: CLEANSING

The next day showed men whose nerves were in good repair after having reinforcements come in. And let me tell you, I was happy, but I was also just a little jealous. Though you might not think it, the facility in Salt Lake City was one of the most heavily fortified in the country. They possessed advanced armor and more powerful boost charges. When Al saw them in their suits for the first time, he scoffed and said, "Look at them. They think they're so awesome." I said, "Well, that's thanks in part to the fact that they are." Al turned around and said, walking away, "I'm going to let off some steam in the training room." I waved bye to Al and saw Gerald coming towards me. He put up his hand and said, "Hey, Turner. How are you?"

When he reached me, I replied, "I'm fine, considering what happened…what happened to Johann." "Well, at least you're not a crying mess," said Gerald, "I doubt, from what I hear, that Johann would want that." "Oh, he wouldn't," I said. "Well," continued Gerald, "I saw your friend over there…" "Al," I said. "Yeah, Al," said Gerald, "I take it he doesn't like us all that much." "Yeah, he's not so big on the whole 'advanced advanced warfare' thing," I said. "Hm," said Gerald, "Nonetheless, I'd like to meet him." "If you got to know him, you'd like him," I said, "Course, he'd have to want to meet _you _first, and I think we're a ways from that." "Too bad," said Gerald, "Well, I have to report to the higher-ups. I'll see you later." "Sure," I said.

As I turned around to start my watch shift, Kyle walked up and said, "New friend, I see." "Are you worried about competition?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "No," said Kyle, "I'm just asking: who is he?" "His name's Gerald," I said, "Nice guy. He had a girlfriend who died, too." "Ah," said Kyle, "So you sort of identify with him." "You could say that," I said, shrugging. "I've got patrol shift, so here's where we part ways," said Kyle. He split off and headed in a different direction, while I took up my rifle once again. That day was slightly inactive. I had to take out one or two zombies, but the rest of the day, nothing.

A few days before, Max got a call saying that the virus had spread, mostly in the places that had already been decimated. This put a little more weight on our hearts, but fortunately, like here, they were pretty much dormant because there wasn't anyone to cause any action. That meant that we could focus on the city we were currently in. The plan was simple: have the guys at the facility push outwards while some soldiers from Salt Lake City who were dropped around the outskirts push inwards, effectively executing a "squeeze" extermination. At this point we were simply getting ready to start with our part of the plan. We would probably have to do it all in one day after we started.

At the end of the day, I went to my bed and again took out the photo of Natalie. I sighed and put it away after a few minutes, attempting to go to sleep. I failed for several hours until I finally drifted off out of just plain fatigue. The dreams returned, with not only the pile of ripped alien flesh from the Baton Rouge facility, but also poor Johann, whom I watched in the dream slowly change into the monster that sealed his fate, ending with his head exploding, as though a bullet had violently pierced it. I wanted to pull myself out of these horrors, but I just couldn't. I had to wait until dawn the next day, when I was woken up by the sunlight.

It was the day we were going to get rid of all the undead in the city. The whole morning consisted of getting ready for the massive operation. At around noon, Max stood on a balcony circling the rotunda to shout down to us, "Alright, everybody, bring it in!" We all gradually huddled into the rotunda, eventually ending up with a few of us having to go up to the balcony as well. Max continued, as loud as ever, "It's time for an extermination, guys! We're going to clear out all the undead and meet up with the rest of the guys in the middle, after which we'll all be transported out of the city via carrier choppers. But even though this sounds like a run-of-the-mill mission, I have to remind you about the difference."

Everybody listened even more attentively at this point, wanting Max to get on with it. He shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the floor for a few seconds, eventually continuing, "I'm going to need you to remember that we'll encounter some of our own guys. I know that'll be difficult, but you're going to need to shoot your comrades. It's a small comfort, but if you do what needs to be done, then they can have a real burial, and be given the honor they deserve. As many of you know, we've had to bury a few of the guys here already. One of them killed himself to save his friends. His name was Johann. And now, we need to be as brave as he was. I'm sure you can deliver." He struggled with the final words, knowing that he may have to gun down some of us. He finished, "Let's head out."

No one said a word for minutes afterward, simply facing up to what would follow. We went out almost immediately, traveling as a tight-knit, three man thick circle, flowing outwards towards the city. Others would trail behind to pick off stragglers. I was in the group behind the main force. Only about two minutes into the operation, I heard shouting and gunshots. One soldier had already killed two zombies. There wasn't any casualties on our side. There was another soldier standing beside the one who killed them, and he was shaking, breathing heavily. I walked towards one of the guys in front and said, "What happened?" He replied, "The guy on the right…he didn't want to kill the zombies, so the guy on the left starting shouting at him, and then he up and took them out." I looked at the zombies. I could see why the soldier was his current state. They were once Raze soldiers.

Grimly, we continued, most not glancing at the slain zombies. I did. I didn't just glance at them, either. I stared at them, long and hard, wondering how it could've come to this. At this time, the Raze war was the bloodiest in history, with around two billion deaths. That included civilians. It seemed like it was going downhill. Looking back on it, it was. All the sorrow we faced was unlike any other soldier ever had in previous wars. This wasn't just killing men on another side, this was killing men whom we might have liked, maybe even called a friend. I had to drive the thoughts out of my head, otherwise I might've ended up like the poor soul in front of me, shaking in horror.

We kept on, knowing that if we stopped for just one night, we might be slaughtered in our sleep. The landscape was not only desolate, but also a disturbing testament to the infinitely more terrible horrors that were presented to us during the war. Blood, both red and black, coated the ruined walls we walked past. Austin was lost. The whole state was lost. And not just this one. New York was shredded. Nevada looked as if it had been bombed several times over. Everything seemed a hopeless mess. Still we trudged on, taking out any zombies we encountered, still without substantial casualties. By the time it was five o' clock, we were nearly done. We had made surprisingly swift progress. I myself had to kill a few stragglers, aliens and former humans alike. I always closed my eyes before pulling the trigger.

Soon, at around five thirty, we had met up with the others. There wasn't any extravagant celebration, as we were dead tired from the day's work. We were just happy we survived. The following day, a large team was sent out to bury the soldiers that had been slain throughout the city. They came back twelve hours later, their sad task finished, their eyes fraught with the strife that came with our situation. I found Gerald, Hishi, Al, and Kyle, seeing how they fared. Al, Kyle, and Gerald were fine, but Hishi had a gash on his thigh from falling on a rebar when he was surprised by a zombie. I went up to him, saying, "So how're you feeling?" He sat up, grimacing, then saying, "About the same as any other guy who's been severely injured by a piece of metal. But don't worry, Frank says I'll be fine, albeit out of action for a couple weeks." "Good," I said, patting his shoulder, "It'll give you a chance to rest." He nodded.

I walked up to Kyle, saying, "So how was the Austin zombie experience for you?" Kyle looked at me and said, "It was terrible. I had to take down at least five zombies who were soldiers in life." "Hey," I said, looking him directly in the eye, "Don't beat yourself up. You ensured that they were laid to rest as heroes, as they should have been. You did them a service." "It doesn't feel like it," he said. I looked past Kyle, seeing Al on a bench, bouncing one knee rapidly with his headphones in. I walked over, asking, "Are you doing alright?" "As long as I have my music," he said, "I'll survive." He avoided my gaze. I grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "Hey, dude, seriously, what's wrong? I need you to tell me." He laughed bitterly and said, "I don't know, man. It was too much." I let go of him and looked at the ground, saying, "Alright, fine. You don't have to say anything. It's been hard on all of us." With that, I walked towards Gerald.

I quickened my pace as I neared him, saying, "Are you doing any better than the others?" He replied, nodding, "I didn't have to shoot anything. That made it a little better. But still…the sound of it…all the screeching and gunfire…it's enough to send chills down your spine. I didn't know if I would make it." "I don't think anybody really did," I said. I heard whimpering to my right, seeing the young soldier who shied away from killing the zombies. I looked at Gerald and said, "Hey, I'll see you later. I'm going to see if I can help this guy." I ran over to him, where he was seated on a rock, crying. I looked at him and said, "Hey, are you okay?" He shook his head emphatically and said, "No." "I'm going to help you, okay?" I said. He nodded and said, "Okay." I patted his arm and surveyed the ripped landscape as Max stood to give us our orders.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER III: THE STEAL

On the flight back to L.A., I started talking to my shaken-up friend. I began, "I want you to know that I understand why." He nodded and swallowed, saying nothing. I continued, "Let me tell you something. I'm pretty disturbed about this whole thing, too. I have nightmares. I have no idea when I'll have them, I just know I will. And every time, I see someone or something that's been killed or that I've killed myself, always asking the same question: why? And every time, I try to get out of it, but I just can't." "That's sounds terrible," the guy said. "It is," I said, "But I have friends who help me out. Anyway, what's your name?" "Monty," he said. "Well, Monty," I said, "I think we can help each other." Monty smiled slightly.

When we arrived, Max waited for all of us to come into the rotunda, eventually saying, "Alright, now that's done, I have another assignment for you guys. There's an alien transport ship that happens to be in the main ships' blind spots. We don't quite know what they're transporting, but it's a relatively unarmed ship. We'll be fitting you guys with new armor, specifically built for prolonged exposure in high altitudes. Along with that, we'll be sending robots." Al immediately and loudly started saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Robots? Don't you remember how we had two hundred of those go AWOL and kill every member of the crew of the ship they were on? No, man. I'm not working with those buckets o' bolts." Max sighed and continued, "Look, Al, I hate this as much as anybody else, but I take orders too. You'll have to go up there with them." Al was obviously frustrated, but he didn't venture to say anything else.

We were given the new kind of armor. It was lightweight but fitted with built-in oxygen masks. I found Monty after we finished putting them on, and I said, "Are you ready?" Monty replied, "As I'll ever be. I have to admit, I'll find it easier to kill these aliens than I will zombies." Though I didn't really share that sentiment, I said, "Alright, good. This'll go well." We all headed to transport ships, with Monty, Hishi and I ending up on the ship piloted by Frank. "How're you doing, Turner?" he asked. "I'm okay, thanks," I replied, "I'm just hoping for the best." Frank nodded and said, "Then let's do it." He started up the ship as soon as the last soldiers loaded up. We rose high into the air, heading towards our target. Frank shouted back to us, "Now, look, we're coming up on the most heavily guarded part of the ship, so it's going to be a bumpy ride!" He most certainly wasn't wrong.

We came up to the ship, only seconds later being bombarded by laser cannons. Frank turned towards us again and said, "Alright, two of you guys are going to have to cut a hole in the side of the hull!" Two soldiers jumped out of the ship with heavy-duty suction pads, landing on the hull and beginning to cut a hole with an acetylene torch. A few minutes of being hit with cannons later, we all jumped out and into the alien ship through the hole. I turned back around as Frank prepared to land. But then, a laser cannon round pierced a hole through a weak spot in the transport, blowing it to bits. I could only look on in shock as the flaming ship and whatever was left of Frank fell to earth. Monty pulled me back from the hole and said, "There's nothing you can do! Come on!" Vengeance rested in my heart as we ran down the halls of the ship.

We had to work our way inwards to the control center of the ship. The lights flickered on and off and eventually stayed off, with the ominous sound of skittering surrounding us. "Black ops," I whispered. We turned on our night-vision and continued cautiously. One of our guys fired towards a spot on the ceiling before he was stabbed from above, his neck skewered. We fired towards the spot where the sword came from, watching as a bloodied mass fell, half of its face missing. We heard screeching, meaning that it was going to get messy. A black ops alien dropped in front of me, preparing to execute a downward swing onto my head. I reacted faster, though, blowing off its hand. It screeched, clutching at the bleeding stump, as I lowered my assault rifle and raised my T2, bringing it directly in front of its face. Firing, I blew off its head, making it fly at least ten feet down the hall.

It didn't end there, though. Another beheaded a guy right behind me, after which it was run through by Hishi. Hishi pulled out his sword and split the alien's head with a swift downward stroke. Another one dropped from the ceiling and nearly cut Hishi. Fortunately, Monty steeled his nerves and aimed his shotgun at the alien, blowing a substantial chunk out of its torso. Hishi pulled his sword free from his kill's head, wiping it on his gauntlet. Hishi looked towards Monty and shook his hand, saying, "Thank you." "Don't mention it," said Monty. We proceeded down the hall, eventually reaching a part of the ship that hadn't had its power cut. A pack of about five berserkers were right in front of us, one member holding a Raze soldier up to the wall, crushing his windpipe. I immediately took up my assault rifle and took out the berserker, removing about a third of his cranium. Bits of skull and flesh covered in black blood rained down.

This caused a problem. There are two main things that kick berserkers into beast-mode: being hurt themselves and seeing a member of their pack killed. They turned towards me and roared. I quickly backpedaled, continuing to fire along with everybody else. In short, soon we were avoiding lifeless eyeballs and grey matter. The Raze soldier we had saved picked up his gun and said, "Thank you. My squad was taken out, and if it wasn't for you guys, I would've been next." I looked around the next corner, seeing scattered body parts. However (thankfully), they were metal. I looked at the guy and said, "You were in charge of robots?" "Yeah," he replied, "But it looks like they don't hold up very well to berserkers." "Great," I said, "Well, since our backup isn't packing enough punch, let's see how we humans can fare." We continued even more carefully down the halls, guns raised.

We encountered many other aliens on the way there, eventually meeting up with another squad, all flesh and blood. Their leader, all the better for us, was Max. He said, "How've you guys been doing?" I gestured towards the guy we'd saved and said, "This guy lost a squad of robots. Other than that, we're okay." "Good," said Max, "As long as you guys are intact, the robots don't matter much to me." We all nodded, and he continued, "Alright, we're near the control room, so we'll have to go in blazing. It's going to be Hell, so be very steady. It could make the difference between keeping your head or losing it. Let's do this in spearhead formation." Max took the front position, the rest of us filling out the triangular shape. We came to a set of double doors, at which a member of Max's party took up a rocket launcher. "Okay, guys," he said, "You might want to stand back." We quickly got behind cover.

The guy fired at the center of the doors, blowing them open. We ran in, seeing that two other squads were already engaged in combat with aliens. Our side had only suffered around five casualties, giving us a small but useful edge. We had apparently gone through the back of the room, with the aliens' backs towards us. Unfortunately, as we had sacrificed A.I. for the sake of no glitches for the robots, all of them were destroyed. Fortunately, as I said, we were behind the aliens, giving us the element of surprise. We immediately opened fire, ripping through the aliens. At the center of the firefight there was a pilot alien. Pilots were drastically different from the other units because of their pitch black skin and red armor, with a stalk on their head, which gave them perfect bearings in the air. I saw Al across the room, aiming at the pilot and firing. A berserker saw what he was doing, however, and jumped in front, being shot instead. Al lowered his gun, frustrated.

We continued our relentless firing, being deterred from killing the pilot by other aliens. And then the worst thing that could've happened did. A whole other shipment of aliens came through the doors, apparently from a soldier transport. A pack of berserkers took out several soldiers, severely damaging our morale. I felt my heart sink as a squad was decimated. I looked towards Monty, and he was shaking, his gun lowered. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Hey, HEY! I need you to keep it together and _we _need to take out this ship!" He took several deep breaths and lifted his gun abruptly towards a berserker that was charging towards us, blowing off its head. I looked at him and said, "Thanks." "No problem," he said. We let it rip once again, pressing the aliens back as other squads were forced back to us. "Wait a minute," shouted Max, "I have an idea! Everybody put on night vision!" We obeyed.

Max searched the room. Eventually his eyes landed on something like a power box. He shot it out, turning out the lights. We realized his plan. It took a few seconds for the aliens to adjust to darkness, so for a moment they were simply standing there, looking around and snarling. We took our chance, gunning down what aliens we could before they recovered. The aliens eventually snapped back into battle, furious. I shot two sniper infantry, making them fall from their posts. One landed on a berserker. The berserker simply tossed the dead body aside, hitting another infantry unit in the head, breaking its neck. The battle seemed to be looking up just a little. As the battle raged, Max called in to the facility, saying, "HEY! WE'RE GOING TO NEED REINFORCEMENTS, NOW!" "Roger that," came the reply, "Just hang tight." "THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING!" Max shouted, finishing, "LARTEN OUT!"

We kept up the resistance, and all the while, I was watching Monty, seeing how he was doing. He was okay, considering the circumstances, and it seemed he had gotten over his earlier pangs. I was Monty's protector, and in that respect, as you'll see, I'll always believe I failed.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV: SECOND TRY

It seemed that the reinforcements took forever, what with the factor of being trapped in a firefight. All the blood and muzzle flashes made it seem even longer. Fortunately, Monty was holding up, and so was I, for once in a long time. But eventually, the reinforcements did arrive, and the fight severely escalated. The aliens were once again taken by surprise, and it allowed us to push them back farther. A berserker was hanging on the wall, and it tried to jump me. Fortunately, I succeeded in shooting it in the heart. It was stopped in midair and fell. Hishi was hacking and slashing away at several others. Max was taking it slow with his T2, making sure he wasn't expending his energy too quickly. I spotted Al on a balcony, firing away. Kyle and Gerald were hard at work as well, and I was given a greater sense of confidence.

Kyle soon reached me and said, "Do you have any idea how we're getting to the pilot?" "Well," I said, "maybe we can surround Hishi and go for it. Hishi's fast enough." "First we have to get to Hishi, though," said Kyle, gesturing towards Hishi. He was across the room from us. "Alright," I said, "Then let's get to him." It was severely difficult, but slowly, we were able to get others in on our plan and push towards Hishi. When we reached him, I told him my plan. Hishi said, "Alright, I can handle that." We huddled around him, making sure there weren't any holes in our defense. The pilot was soon only a few feet from us, and we opened the huddle, allowing Hishi to lunge forward and cut off the pilot's head. Its body fell, and Hishi picked up the head by its stalk and let out a war cry.

The aliens turned towards the sound, and one shouted, "TURANGA DISHHOLIN GIJURRRA!" Hishi seemed confused. A soldier shouted, "WHO'S DRIVING?!" Realization dawned in Hishi's eyes, and Al ran to the control panel as the battle resumed. I joined Al and realized the controls were like nothing we were used to. There seemed to be a holographic screen you would put your hands in. Al put his hands through, and nothing happened. "Aw, if only this was like the stuff back home!" Suddenly, the hologram wrapped around his hands and formed a pair of jet fighter controls. "Wait a second," said Al, "What if I wanted…an Xbox controller set for the Hornet controls for Halo?" Immediately, the controls became an Xbox controller, and Al smiled and said, "Awesome. Now remember, we still need to steal some of their stuff." I nodded.

I went to Max, and he and I along with a few other guys including Monty headed back down the halls, away from the fight. "So, do you know where the supplies are?" I whispered. Max paused and said, "I'm afraid we'll have to figure that out." We continued, not encountering aliens for a long while. We decided to start searching rooms. We went through several in just a few minutes, coming up with nothing. Max eventually said, "Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought." We kept on, still searching rooms, still finding nothing. It took us a long time to find anything. Eventually we found food rations that, thankfully, the aliens had taken from earth. Apparently they were running out of food. "Good," said Max, "At least we have some advantage." We searched even more earnestly after that, looking for whatever essential supplies we could and leaving the more specific items for later.

Eventually, we did, inevitably, meet an alien. Thankfully, it was only one. All that happened was that Max came up behind it and stabbed it, covering its mouth. Max dragged the body into the room we were in. We eventually ran out of rooms to search in that one section. We moved onto the next, and then the next. Again, we didn't see a lot of aliens, though we did meet a few which were dispatched without any difficulty. Soon, we finally reached the section of the ship which contained weapons, ammo, knives, and anything else you'd need on your person as a soldier. Unfortunately, the entrance was guarded by a pack of berserkers. "Great," whispered Max, "This is going to be a little bit harder." "Well, then," I whispered, "we'll just have to be a little more creative with our approach." "I like the cut of your jib, Turner," whispered Max.

We started with two pressure grenades. That took out three and severed another's hand. Now was the worst part. As I've said before, when berserkers get angry, they get _angry_. They charged us, and we ran past the corner and to the corridor opposite to our objective, with two of us staying on the sides of the entrance. As one berserker went through, the two guys fired at its head, blowing it up. The next berserker learned from its partner's mistake. It burst through the wall, grabbing one guys head and breaking it on its knee. Max performed a near flawless horizontal stroke across its belly, literally spilling its guts. Knowing the berserker could still kill him in its last moments, Max also cut off its head. There were still eleven berserkers left, and our work was cut out for us. Me and another guy picked up a dead berserker and threw it at the next one. Confused, it faltered, allowing one guy to shoot it right between the eyes.

Max said, "Alright, we can't delay much longer. We have to hurry this up." I ran out through the hole in the wall to meet face to face with a berserker. My adrenaline went through the roof and I clasped my hands together, performing an uppercut to the berserker. It stumbled backward as I slammed the heel of my hand upward to its nose, killing it. Max, who was at the end of killing one berserker, raised his eyebrows and said, "You know we have guns." "Yeah," I said, breathing heavily. A few seconds later, there was only the berserker missing a hand. I aimed my T2 at its face, and then I turned to Max and said, "What's the quickest way to kill this thing?" He tossed me his knife and gestured with his finger across his neck. I quickly slashed its neck, and it died in a second. It was likely it died painlessly. "Thanks," I said to Max. He nodded.

He stepped to the door and said, "Okay, it's time to finish this." He opened the door to reveal supplies that would give us an edge. He called in to L.A. and said, "Hey, we're going to need a transport for all this stuff, pronto." "Roger," said the soldier on the other end. Max turned towards me and said, "Turner, we're going to need to head back to the main room. When that transport gets here, we load this stuff on, and we take out all the other hostiles." "Got it," I said. We all headed back, guns raised and ready to fire. Upon arriving, I saw Al, stone-cold focused, expertly steering the ship. I ran up to him and said, "So, how's the flying been?" "Okay," said Al, "I think both sides know what happens if I get shot." I nodded and searched the room for Monty. I eventually found him in a panicky state, shooting like crazy, wasting his ammo. I ran over to him and said, "Hey, Monty, calm down. You're wasting ammo. Just look at me, and focus." He made eye contact, and eventually his breathing slowed. "Thanks," he said. "Don't mention it," I said wearily.

I went over to the monitors on the control panel, noticing the transport coming up outside the ship. "MAX," I shouted, "THE TRANSPORT'S HERE!" "GOOD," he shouted back, and, pointing towards three soldiers, said, "You, you and you, go to the supply room and cut a hole. Make sure it's big enough to fit those boxes through." The soldiers nodded and took up a couple of cutters, which were basically like acetylene torches on steroids, so they could cut through the thicker part of the hull. As they headed down the hall, Max said, "Alright, we'll just have to keep this up for a little while longer." Unfortunately, though he was right, what he didn't anticipate the cognitive capabilities of the aliens. One saw the soldiers running down the hall and saw they were losing, proceeding to pull out a grenade and activate it. The beeping never seemed so slow. It blew up in a rain of black and red blood, taking out more humans than aliens and disorienting the rest of the Raze army.

We were all sent into a frenzy, making our way to one side of the room, crowding around Max. Eventually he shouted, "ALL RIGHT, WE HAVE TO MOVE! THERE'S NO USE STAYING HERE NOW!" We were all pressed against the double doors, thankfully, making it easier for us to get out. We ran as fast as we could down the halls, blasting any stray alien who got in our way. When we reached an obscure corner of the ship, Max, breathing heavily, said, "This looks like a hold. It'll be the easiest to defend. COME ON, EVERYBODY!" We filed in quickly, with the aliens hot on our heels. Max slammed his fist against the button that closed the doors, shutting the entrance. There were cooling systems in our suits, making the situation slightly less uncomfortable. Al walked up to me, saying, "Well, that was unexpected." "Yeah," I said, "I just want to know how everybody else is." Al nodded, patted my shoulder, and walked off.

I went to Monty, who was still shaken up, and I said, "Hey, Monty, are you doing all right?" "Yeah," he said, "It was scary, though. And I mean even scarier than anything else I've done in Raze. Clearing out zombies couldn't compare to what happened here." "I agree with you," I said, "Look, I'm going to see if my other friends are all right." I walked away towards Gerald. I found him groaning on a crate, a wound in his shin. I asked him, "Are you going to make it?" "Yeah," he groaned, "but it'll be a while before I'm fit for action." "But you're in action right now," I said. "Exactly," he said. Hishi approached me, saying, "Have you seen Kyle?" I gulped and said, "No. Have you?" Hishi shook his head and said, "No." I pushed past Hishi and looked frantically around the room, looking for my best friend.

Thankfully, I found him unharmed in another corner of the room. "Good, I found you," I said, relieved. "So did I," said Kyle. We both sat on a crate without a single word, reveling in the simple yet beautiful fact that we were alive.


End file.
